Cold pressure welding



P ,1950 A. B. SOWTER 2,522,408

COLD PRESSURE WELDING Filed Oct. 25, 194$ 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. AA/fHQ/V) 5. 60h/7'EE QhMpf L P 1950 A. B. SOWTER coLn PRESSURE WELDING 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 25, 1949 FIG. 17

INVENTOR fifty:-

m w. 5 6 V/ M m N A Patented Sept. 12, 1950 COLD PRESSURE WELDING Anthony Bagnold Sowter, Wembley, England, assignor to The General Electric Company, Limited, London, England Application October 25, 1949, Serial No. 123,315

Claims. (Cl. 78-92.)

My present invention, which is a continuationin-part of application Serial No. 86,930 filed April 12, 1949, and now abandoned, relates to novel apparatus for and methods of cold welding of metal.

Heretofore it has been regarded that good welding has, as as essential requisite, the use of relatively high temperatures. There are many metals where the relatively high temperatures (i. e. 1500 F. and higher) regarded as essential for welding result in deleterious effects on the metal. This was particularly so in the case of such metals as aluminium, and also in the case of copper which was softened and annealed in the region of the welding. This occurred to such an extent that complex mechanisms were utilized in an attempt to overcome this softening effect which destroyed the mechanical strength of the metal.

, Moreover, the welding mechanisms employed are complex and costly since the high temperatures employed make itessential to maintain the operating temperatures within close critical ranges. increased period of time over that actually necessary further deteriorates the metal and the use of a temperature slightly below that required results in an imperfect weld which fails to properly hold. Because of this marginal character of high temperature welding, not only is it necessary to employ complex and costly welding machines, but specially skilled operators who have special training in controlling and operating the welding equipment.

Moreover, industrial plants utilizing electric welding machines have experienced serious problems with their current loads due to the extreme fluctuation in the current flow as the equipmen was turned on and off.

In the face of these extreme difilculties with high temperature welding, it has heretofore been regarded as impractical to attempt to weld by any other means than by the use of sufilciently high temperature to produce a flow of the two metals to be joined to each other and extensive research has been carried on in an attempt to correct these complications of high temperature welding.

I have discovered that by the proper control of the metals to be welded, pressures and the use of proper welding dies, I can and have achieved good commercial welds utilizing simply pressure at ambient temperatures or slightly above ambient and well below any temperature which An application of heat for a slightly would alter the characteristics of the metal being welded.

In essence the cold pressure welding of my invention contemplates bringing metals to be welded into contact with each other and by the application of pressure causing the metal to flow away from the welding point and into interleaved relation with the grains of the metals being welded.

Inasmuch as metals are usually faced with films of oxide, before the metal itself can be caused to flow into each other as stated above, these oxides must first be dispersed. This dispersal of the surface film may be accomplished at theinterface by the application of pressure to cause sufiicient flow of the metal, but I have discovered that I can effect cold welding by a considerable reduction in the flow of the metal if Ifirst effectively remove the film on the face of the metal in a manner to be described hereinafter.

The pressure applied must be of a value just above the flow point of the metal and must be so applied as to permit unrestricted flow of the metal either away from the weld or into the material; that is to say, there should be no substantial restriction to the free flow of the metal from under the pressing parts of the tool.

The weld is secured by a penetration into the welded metal produced by the pressure applied to the welding tools. This penetration varies with the metals such as aluminium, copper, etc. For commercial purity aluminium, the best results as regards strength at the weld are obtained 'when the cross-section or thickness of metal is reduced by penetration to an amount of the order of For copper and silver the crosssection reduction is of the order of -90%.

I have further found that by the use of proper welding tools and by a control of the penetration into the metal, a minimum reduction in thickness required to ensure satisfactory Welding varying from metal to metal can be achieved.

The strength of a, joint formed by cold welding will depend on its shape with respect to the stress to which the weld is to be subjected. By a proper layout of welds in relation to the stress, it is possible to so arrange the joint as not to sacrifice tensile strength of the finished product.

Accordingly, an object of my invention is to provide a novel process of and apparatus for cold welding.

A further object of my invention is to provide novel welding tools particularly suited for cold pressure weldings.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a novel process of cold pressure welding in which the pressure applied is just above the flow point of the metal.

Still a further object of my invention is to provide a. novel process of cold pressure welding in which the metal is permitted free unrestricted flow.

Another object of my invention is to provide a novel process of cold pressure welding in which minimum reduction in the cross-section of the metals being welded is secured.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a novel process of cold pressure welding in which by proper surfacing of the metals and control of pressure, tools, and location of welds, minimum pressures and metal reductions are required to achieve commercial welds.

The above and further objects as well as novel aspects of the invention will be better understood from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification and wherein:

Figure l is a schematic cross-sectional view, showing a pair of specially constructed welding dies for cold welding a pair of overlapping metal strips shown at the end of the cold welding operation according to the invention.

Figure 2 is a top view of the strips of Figure 1 joined by cold pressure welding in accordance with the invention.

Figure 3 is similar to Figure 1, showing a modification of the welding die construction.

Figures 4 and 5 are further top views of cold welded strips or equivalent work pieces joined by a plurality of cold welds to increase the mechanical strength of the welding joint.

Figure 6 illustrates a further modification for roducing a single cold weld with the weldin pressure or a single die applied on one side of the work pieces only.

Figure 7 shows a modified shape of a cold weld according to the invention, specially suitable for welding together the ends of wires aligned at the joint.

Figure 8 is a section taken on line 8-8 of Figure 7.

Figure 9 illustrates still another type of cold welding die, especially suitable for welding together the ends of a pair of round wires.

Figure 10 is a cross-section through a weldin joint of a pair of wires obtained with dies shown in Figure 9.

Figure 11 is a top view of still another type of weld for joining a pair of metal surfaces according to the invention. a

Figure 12a is a section taken on line l2-l2 of Figure 11 also showing the specific construction of the welding die.

Figure 12b shows a modification of the die shown in Figure 12a.

Figure 13 shows a modified welding die of the type according to Figures 12a and 122:.

Figure 14 illustrates a weld obtained by the use of a die according to Figure 13.

Figure 15 illustrates a die arrangement for welding a tube to a plate.

Figure 16 illustrates a die arrangement for welding a tube to a thick plate, and

Figure 1'7 shows a method of cleaning surfaces to be welded.

Like reference characters identify like parts throughout the different views of the drawings.

As stated hereinabove, a fllm of oxide begins to form on aluminium immediately after theactual metallic surface of the aluminium is exposed to the atmosphere. Several days may elapse be- Once brought together. The effect Of this flow at the interface is to disperse the protective or oxide film in the material and so bring about the necessary metallic contact required for welding. More flow will be required to disperse the oxide film and produce this contact if the film has reached its final thickness than if it is almost or complrtely non-existent. As a result, in order to obtain the best welds with a minimum reduction in metal thickness at the weld, the surfaces to be welded should be free from an contaminating oxide film or other impurities suchas foreign matter, oil, grease, etc. adhering to the surfaces to be cold welded.

Accordingly, good results for the present invention are achieved when the metal has a clean surface from which the oxide or other film or foreign matter has been removed prior to the cold welding operation should such film or foreign matter be present. Once the surfaces have been cleaned, advantage can be taken of the time required for the oxide film to reform to any appreciable extent by welding shortly f after the cleaning operation.

Usual cleaning methods such as filing or treatment with abrasives has been found to leave impurities ground back into and re-embedded in the surface. Moreover, particles of the abrasive are also left behind.

The technique for securing such a clean surface will differ with different metals. In the case of aluminium, I have found that the surface must first be grease-free and dry. A power-driven rotary scratch brush consisting of steel wire and running at a surface speed of about 3,000 ft./min. is used. With the surface grease-free and dry. the rotating scratch brush will seize with the surface and remove the heavy oxide layer. The brush used is preferably a fine steel wire which will not damage the stock or remove too much aluminium. The surface of the work is held against the brush long enough to make the drag felt, which occurs when the steel wires break through the oxide filmand seize on the metal surface beneath. Small particles of the body 'metal and its coating of oxide are thus torn out and flung clear because of the speed at which the brush passes over the surface being cleaned.

As will now be understood, the hardness and gauge of the steel wire should be related to the dimensions of the work in hand, since it is obviously undesirable to weaken the structure by removing more metal than is absolutely essential to clean. Thus, materials other than aluminium may require the use of a coarser brush or a pickling process to remove the oxide scale. Indeed, in the case of copper, I have found that the oxide is very resistant to scratch brushing.

The end result of the scratch brushing should be a surface having a fine, even grained appearance free from dragging through over scratch brushing.

As stated above, the metals to be welded are subjected to variable pressures depending on the metals but the applied pressure, however, should always be just above the fiow point of the metal.

former case. I have found that slightly lower pressure is required since the flow is easier, particular'y if the weld is applied near the edge of the material. The correct parameters of the weld also helps keep the required pressure low. Thus, it the area of the pressed area is small compared to the perimeter as in the 'case of a long and narrow rectangular weld area, a greater freedom of lateral flow of metal with resultant improved weld results.

I have found that the rate of application of the pressure does not appear to affect the strength of the weld. Thus, good welds have been secured giving either a slow squeeze or an impact. The actual work in both cases is the same, the only change being in the power or rate of doing work. While, however, the rate of pressing is not very material, I have found that the shape of the tool is a factor in good welding.

Welding dies for commercially pure aluminium can be made of mild steel or from an unhardened chrome-manganese tool steel. Neither of these materials gives any trouble with pick-up) of aluminium, such pick-up as does occur being confined to a slight surface contamination having the appearance of a thin plating. Usual- 1y; tungsten and molybdenum steels should be avoided for tools.

'Referring to Figures 1 and 2, there is shown schematically a tool for producing rectangular spot welds according to the invention. A pair of work pieces Ill and II, shown by the way of example in the form of strips or plates of aluminium, copper or other ductile metal capable of being cold pressure welded, after having their contacting surfaces cleaned as described above, are placed between dies I2 and I3. These shouldered dies have welding tips or teeth I211 and Ila, respectively. Pressures of the order described above are applied at opposite sides. of the super-posed or overlapping pieces I and II to be welded together by means of a suitable tool such as a hand or power press, in a manner as will be readily understood.

' In order to ensure a satisfactory spot weld of this type, the size of the contact area of the welding die or tips Ila and lid and in turn the shape and size of the weld are dependent substantially on the gauge thickness t of the plates or other pieces being welded. If I is the length and w the width of the rectangular pressure or contact area, the width is made equal to or of the order of the gauge thickness t while the length I should be a multiple of the gauge thickness or about 5t or more as found by tests and practical experiments. This applies to symmetrical tools working from both sides of the weld as shown in Figure 1 and indicated by the arrows a. When it is necessary to avoid a depression or indentation on one face of the work, as shown in Figure 6. a single tool may be used in conjunction with a flat plate or anvil, in which case w is increased to 1.51.. In cases where the material being worked with'symmetrical tools is inclined to be rather short and hard, that is to say. the material in tending towards the limit of ductility suitable for cold pressure welding. it has been found an advantage to increase the face width up to about 2.5t. This also helps the stability and alignment of the press tools.

The final gap between the tools III and II or between a single tool and an anvil, is either set by a stop limiting the closure of the press or by the dapth d of the shoulders or tips Ila and us. It is preferable to make the surfaces of Ila and Ila flat to get the strongest mechanical results although they could be made slightly rounded or faceted. But under no conditions should they have a form which is sharp rounded, that is of small diameter. Thus, in section, the welding surface of a too] should not form part of a circle whose diameter isonly up to a few times the thickness of the material to be welded and the diameter should generally be, for good results, greater than three times the total thickness of the work. When the diameter is infinite, the best results are generally obtained. Although the shouldered tool has an advantage over a plain tool as shown in Figure 3. in that it restores any distortion of the metal produced by the welding process in a direction transverse to the'con tacting surfaces between plates or other pieces being welded, both plain and shouldered tools can be used by welding.

The plain tool, Figure 3. with a closely controlled blow such as given by an automatic centre punch is especially suitable for welding gauge thicknesses of the order of .012 in. or thinner, while the shouldered tool, Figure 1, using spe-' cially shaped punch and handle is suitable for thicknesses of the order of .036 in. or more.

The size of the gap 1' between the tools, or the tool and anvil. is limited to prevent further penetration after the welding point has been reached, the minimum reduction in thickness required to insure a satisfactory weld varying from metal to metal. Metals can be classified, as regards their suitability for cold pressure welding,

by taking as a "Figure of Merit" the relation Material Super-pure Aluminium Commercial purity Aluminium Aluminium an 2% Magnesium...

mo'52558858 S For example. since the value {or commercially pure aluminium is 30, the gap should be set at or in other words, the thickness of the welding Joint should be 30% of the total work thickness '1 in the case of aluminium, to insure both a satisfactory welding connection as well as adequate mechanical strength of the welded joint. The shape of the actual welding surfaces of the tools should be so arranged that the thickness of the welded joint is equal to at least 6% of the total thickness of the two pieces of material to be welded together and this over an area whose shortest dimension is equal to atleast the gauge or thickness of the pieces to melded. Of course, as shown in the table given above, the thickness of the joint will vary with the type and hardness of the materials used and should be adjusted to the most convenient value. This can be determined in practice by a few trials. It is to be understood that the above figures of merit could be varied widely but such variations should only be used where the maximum obtainable strength at the weld is not required. However, in no case must a weld be made where the thickness is reduced to a value at which the two opposite tools or dies approach touching each other or touch as would result by using two circular section tools of comparatively small diameter.

Although the metal thickness has been reduced substantially over the welding area, in the manner pointed out, the metal has in some cases been work-hardened to twice its original strength,

as a result of the welding operation, so that the welded section will in these cases be about half as strong as the original single work piece. By a proper lay-out of the welds in relation to the stress to which the material will be subjected,

it will be generally possible to arrange the joint without sacrificing any tensile strength. If cold pressure welding is used for making electrical connection between wires or strips, it is found that with aluminium a well-proportioned joint has a lower electrical resistance than an equivalent section of unjointed material.

Referring to Figure 3, the effect of using a plain tool is illustrated and the drawing shows the result of using tools 12 and I! which are only tapered to the pressure tips. Here, the two strips l0 and II of metal to be welded suffer distortion as distinguished from Figure 1 where the shouldered tools 12 and I3 substantially preventing distortion of metal by confining the displaced metal to a given space are restoring the distorted metal surface at the completion of the welding I process around the welded joint. The shoulders of the tools may also control the percentage reduction in thickness by limiting the ultimate size 0! the gap between the pressure tips of the tools. If desired, the tips In and l3a may move relative to the tools I! and I3, each of the tips being mounted in the centre of a pressure pad. In

such a case, the pads and tips will engage the metal together and then the tips will move through the pads to effect welding, the pads preventing or limiting distortion of metal.

Figures 4 and 5 show a pair of cold welded plates connected by a plurality of separate welds to improve the mechanical strength of the welded joint. In Figure 4, a pair of adjacent parallel welds M are provided in place of the single weld of Figures 1 and 2, while in Figure 5 welds H are provided arranged at angles of with the longitudinal dimensions of plates or angles of 90 between themselves. The advantage of the latter arrangement is to reduce the jamming eflect of the metal which otherwise tends to build up between the welding tips. The weld indentations are disposed, as it were, radially so that flow of metal away from the flanks of the welding faces is facilitated. This layout of the welds gives good mechanical strength in direct tension but the plates peel apart more easily than when the interrupted ring shape of weld shown in Figure 11 is used. However, the radial weld layout is better from the electrical conduction point of view since it has a greater current carrying capacity. 7

Normally tools are used which-indent both sides of the work. Where it is necessary to work against an internal supporting piece or if one sideshould be kept flat for the sake of appearance, it is possible, though not quite as satisfactory, to make all the indentation on one side only. In this case the tool face width is increased to about 1 gauge thickness. This enables impact welding to be used without guiding fixtures. For example, a tool with a backing face to limit penetration to the desired amount can be used in a portable riveting tool.

Where two different metals, such as aluminium and copper, are to be welded, the area of the die coming in contact with the softer metal is made larger than that coming in contact with a harder metal. This controls the sharing of the final weld thickness by the two metals. The area of the weld will follow the smaller welding face and there will not be a tendency as might otherwise occur if the same areas were used of squeezing the softer aluminium to an extent where the final thickness is taken up entirely by the copper.

Figure 6 shows. in perspective, a single tool I! having tapered pressure tip in with a flat end or operative contact area and a shoulder I21), and the weld I4 form where two strips of aluminium HI and II are welded together. Actually the height d of the tip l2a from the shoulder lib controls the percentage reduction, the width w of the fiat end of the tip being 1.5 times the thickness t of the strip or plates and the length I being about 5t, as above pointed out.

There is thus provided by the invention a cold welding process for jointing the surfaces of metals or metal alloys, in particular aluminium or copper, wherein the application of pressure not only brings the surfaces into close contact but also causes flow to take place, with the result that the two metal pieces become welded together.

In cold welding, the metals are made to flow when cold by the application of sufficient pressure and the conditions in accordance with the invention is such that some re-crystallization may take place at room temperature. In cold welding the material is hardened in some cases by the work which is put into it, which constitutes an advantage, as although the cross-section of thework is usually decreased, the loss in strength is counterbalanced to a certain extent by the hardening. The pressure, as well as the size and shape of the dies and the location of the weld, should be such as not seriously to hinder the displacement of the excess metal, resulting from the reduction of the work thickness at the welding joint.

Therein lies one of the reasons for the advantage of the strip-like or rectangular shape of the weld, resulting in a substantial pressure transverse to the longer side of the rectangle, as shown diagrammatically in Figures 1 and 2 by lines c indicating the metal flow from the dies. The weld may be placed fairly close to the edge of the work pieces to enable ready displacement of the excess metal laterally of the welding joint, as indicated by the increased width or lateral bulge tangular 'tool faces on the tool pieces. after cleaning by scratch-brushing, the two flat- 9 of the welded pieces in Figures 2, 4 and 5. But the weld need not necessarily be placed fairly close to the edge of the work pieces and may be at a substantial distance from the edge, the displaced metal being possibly taken-up in the thickness of the material of the work pieces. In Figures 2 and 4 the metal is allowed to flow in the direction of the arrows b or substantially transverse to the longitudinal edge of the work pieces, while in Figure 5 the lateral flow of metal from the welding faces of the tools builds up into a ring of pressure which causes a resultant flow of metal in the directions indicated by the arrows d. In a case as illustrated where the strip width is small in proportion to the size of tool used and the consequent resistance to deformation is low, this outward flow actually stretches the material under the centre of the tool and reduces its thickness. I

In seam welding a tube of aluminium, strip aluminium would first be formed into tubing by,

for example, suitable, forming rollers and having the edges of the strip cleaned, by scratchbrushing, and overlapping. Then the seam would be welded by one or more lines of separate and individual cold welds along the overlapping edges, the sealed areas of adjacent welds meeting or overlapping. As will be appreciated, even though a percentage reduction of 70% may be obtained at each cold weld, between the individual welds there is metal which had not been reduced in thickness and, therefore, the seam is considerably stronger mechanically than if a continuous cold weld had been made along the seam.

In some cases, where tools of .the above type are used for welding, such as in connecting two flattened ends of aluminium wires, the wires being laid one on the other, the rectangular shape taper away to points at its end and, besides tapering in width, the face may be slightly radiused at its ends. Thus, a pressure tip may be, in effect, boat-shaped at its operative face as show in Figures 7 and 8, wherein and 2| are a pair of copper or aluminium wires having flattened end portions 20a and 2|a, respectively, and being placed upon each other for welding by a specially designed die having a central rectangular operative or contact area 22 and tapering end surfaces 23 terminating in radiused or circular ends as at 24. As a result, an abrupt change in the metal flow conditions is avoided at the short ends of the welding area by using a tool shaped to taper away towards its end and substantially corresponding to the shape as shown in Figure '7.

A pair of co-operating tools may be similarly shaped and may be incorporated in either a hand or power operated device for both flattening and joining wires by cold welding.

According to the foregoing, when it is required to weld two wires together in line, the ends of the two wires must first be flattened between rec- Then,

tened-ends are placed one on the other between 10 the other tool faces and pressure applied by the tool to effect welding.

Obviously, the preliminary flattening of the wires is an operation which takes time and according to a further feature of the invention the welding'tools may be so designed, as by pro-grooving at1l2b and l3b in Figure 9 the flat or substantially flat welding surfaces 25 of the dies l2 and l3,in such manner that the welding tools themselves locate or help to locate the wires, bars or rods of circular or similar cross-section which are to be welded together.

The grooves or recesses no and l3b will be continuous along the whole lengths of the welding surfaces of the tools and need not, of course, be of such cross-section that the rounded surfaces of the wires, bars or rods fit accurately therein. Satisfactory results are obtained if the diameter of the wire, bar or rod 20 and 2| parallel to the welding surface of a tool exceeds the mouth width of the groove or recess in the tool or die surface so that the wire, bar or rod overlaps the groove or recess on'both sides. Thus, the mouth width may be on one-third of the said diameter.

When two wires of circular section are placed one upon the other and between tools in accord.- ance with the present invention, as the tools' are brought together to bear on the wires, there will generally be three lines of applied pressure on a wire at first. One will be where it abuts against the other wire and the other two will be where it engages each side of the mouth of the groove or recess in the surface of the adjacent welding tool.

Besides having the eifect of locating the wires during the initial part of the welding process, the grooving of the tool surfaces provides a central rib 26, Figure 10, in the finished joint which tends to improve the strength of the joint. The wires may or may not be welded together where they meet in this rib, the main cold pressure weld being, of course, on each side of the rib, as shown at r in Figure 10, but by suitable design of the tool surfaces, a continuous weld right across the joint can be obtained.

The working surfaces of the tools may be extended laterally on both sides of the wires to be joined so that, after welding, all the metal of the wires at the joint is contained between the tool surfaces or the surfaces may be such that metal flows, on welding, laterally out of the tools.

As will be evident from the foregoing, the shape of the dies for effecting a cold weld as well as the placing and orientation of the weld if properly chosen will enable the excess metal as a result of the percentage reduction of the thickness of the material, to be readily displaced, in the manner described in connection with the examples shown. According to a modification, a shouldered die is provided with one or more suitable recesses with.- in the shoulder thereof and adapted to receive the excess metal displaced substantially in the direction of the pressure applied by the die. In

the previous examples as shown in Figures 2, 4 to '7, the displacement is in a direction substantially transverse to the die pressure.

There is shown an example of the latter modification in Figures H, Rd and l2b, wherein a cup-shaped member 30 is welded to a flat plate or sheet II, by means of a cylindrical die 3| fitting the inside of the cup 30 and provided with three arcuate or sector shaped welding tips 3la. spaced at angles of from each other so as to result in welds as shown at 32. In the die form shown I in Figure 12a, the three unwelded radial bridges of material provide a pressure 'outlet from the centre and also transmit a portion of the load to the inner side of the welds. The die 3| shown in Figure 12b provides an alternative method of relieving the pressure in the centre of the die by making a relief 3lb which can accommodate the surplus material. In order to control the percentage reduction in thickness at the welds and to prevent distortion of the metal plate II, a collar 38 is provided between a shoulder 39 on the tool 3i and the plate II.

A somewhat modified die 33 of this type is shown in Figure 13, comprising only a single tip 34, of square, rectangular or even circular shape, and a pair of recesses 34a in the shoulder 35 on either side of said tip adapted to accommodate the excess or displaced metal and to result in a weld as indicated by the displacement lines of Figure 14. Again the total thickness of pieces Ill and II, is substantially reduced and the excess metal displaced at right angle to the plate or plates being Welded. As is understood, welds as shown in Figures 11 to 14 may be produced by a pair of like dies applied from opposite sides of the work instead of the single die and anvil arrangement shown in the drawings. The shoulders 35 may form a pressure pad to force material up.

The shouldered or other forms of tools according to the invention may be used, suitably modified where need be, for straight line, arcuate, ring or other welds and may also be used for continuous seam welds.

In making a continuous seam weld in tubing, it will generally be necessary to use welding rollers which co-operate together and are provided with welding surfaces and, laterally of the welding surfaces, with flanges which part-oil? excess metal radially outwards of the weld. Such rollers are described in the specification of co-pending U. S.

application Serial No. 43,096. After welding, it is possible to improve the appearance, and in some cases the strength, of the tubing by a subsequent operation such as swaging. Thus, the tubing may be run after welding through a tube reducing machine which comprises either hammers which deliver rapid blows on the outside of the weld or rollers which bear in succession on the outside of the weld and tubing to make the metal of the tubing take the desired shape. Alternatively, any other convenient known means may be used for producing the required result.

Under certain conditions and for certain materials, it may be desirable to remove any surface oxidation, impurities or contamination by taking a light out over the metal surfaces to be welded. In the case of a continuous welding process, this cut should be taken as close as possible to the welding tools or dies. In other cases, it may merely replace scratch brushing. One way of taking a slight cut from the surfaces to be welded in the case Of the continuous seam welding of aluminium tubing is shown by way,of example and somewhat diagrammatically inFigure 17. In the figure, the tubing 50 has radial flanges to be welded together by welding rolls 52 and a double-edged diamond, tungsten carbide or other suitable cutter 53 is arranged to take a small cut from the surfaces to be welded together. The cutter 53 is made as small as possible to allow the cleaning operation to be effected very close up to the welding rolls 52 and in this way the chance of contamination of the surfaces to be welded after cleaning is reduced to a negligible value. Backing rolls 54 are provided against which the flanges ll press during the cutting operation. Clearly, if the tubing 30 is around an electric cable in the form of a sheathing, there is little or no chance of say impregnating material of the cable seeping or .the weld and locked mechanically by the inward radial flow of the plate material around the hole.

Where a tube has to be joined to a thick plate. as shown in Figure 16, it is possible to weld to the platematerial by machining a relief around .the hole .so as to leave a ring 45 of material standing up to be welded against. The pressure is then applied to the welding point through a ring-shaped tool 46 which has a pilot bar 41 running through the tool 48 into the tube 40 and an annular flat welding face 48 made to correspond with the ring 45 of material on the plate 4|. The flange 42 is trapped between the ring and the face 48 and the relief 43 provides room forthe radial flow of metal.

From the above it will now be clear that in the case of welding a seam of the overlapping type, the individual welds may be made along a single line by co-operating tools which make a short straight line weld parallel to the length of the line or there may be welds along two or more spaced parallel lines, the sealed areas around any two adjacent welds overlapping or meeting to form an efiective seam weld although no two adjacent welds meet. In the latter case, the welds along one line may be staggered relatlveto the welds in an adjacent line so that the welds in one line co-operate with the welds in the adjacent line to efl'ect a good seam. Thus, a shouldered tool with two welding tips may be used to produce two lines of staggered welds.

With this method, good compacting of the seam is obtained.

If desired, the individual weld lines may be inclined at an angle to the length of the line 01' the weld, e. g., in echelon, and instead Of being straight line welds, other shapes such as a chevron shaped weld may be used.

The welds may be produced either by one or more reciprocating tools on both sides of the contacting surfaces, or by a single tool on one side and a mandrel or anvil on the other side, the surfaces being moved relatively to the tools and mandrels as welding proceeds along the seam, or by one or more rollers or wheels on one side having welding teeth and a mandrel or mandrels, which may be in the form of rollers on the other side. Preferably the mandrel or mandrels have a surface or surfaces shaped to flt the adjacent surface of the metal but it or they may also have welding teeth.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a shouldered tool for efiecting cold pressure welding is formed with a surface arranged to engage the metal to be cold pressure welded and, projecting beyond or from the surface, a pressure tip or tooth arranged to eilect welding by causing flow of the metal, the said surface of the tool being arranged to remove, or reduce substantially, any distortion adthe distorted metal.

iacent to a weld and produced by the welding process and possibly also to control the percentage reduction in thickness at the weld.

If two metal pieces are to be Joined at a relatively small overlapping area, such as a pair of plates, strips, sheaths or the like, then a single weld or a limited number of welds may be applied, the invention not being limited to line or seam welding comprising a large number of discrete or spot welds but applying broadly to any case where a single or limited number of welds is sufiicient to connect two work pieces. in the manner shown in greater detail before.

Thus, whether a reciprocating tool or roller with teeth is used for effecting the welds, it is desirable that the tool or roller is so formed as to restore distorted metal to a better shape and to prevent over-penetration into the metal surfaces. In the case of a reciprocating tool, a pressure tip may be formed on the flat end of the tool, engagement of the fiat end of the tool with the metal preventing further penetration of the tip and effecting flattening of the metal around the indentation produced by th tip. In the case of a roller, the welding teeth would project the required distance from the rim of the roller, the said rim limiting the penetration of the teeth or controlling percentage reduction and restoring The tip or teeth will, of course, be shaped to form the required cold weld.

The actual mechanism of cold pressure welding is not yet fully and completely understood but very satisfactory results have been obtained by following the details and information given above. Whilst it was well known that certain metals when subjected to pressure begin to flow when the pressure exceeds a value dependent on the particular metal, I have succeeded in using this fact to make two streams of metal flow together into one as though the metals were melted together but without the application of external heat or electric current.

I claim:

1. The method of welding two aluminum members at room temperature comprising scratchbrushing the surface portions of said members to be welded until metallic surfaces substantially uncontaminated by matter foreign to the metal of said members are obtained, arranging said members with the cleaned surfaces thereof in face-to-face relation, applying to the contacting members along a strip-like area having a width approximately equal to the thickness of one of said members and without the application of any external heat, a. pressure having lines of force substantially parallel to each other and at right angles to said strip-like area, and controlling said pressure to produce a partial reduction of substantially 70% in thickness of said members over said area, to cause an indentation of said striplike area and to permit the adjoining metal of said members to cold flow sufficiently so as to weld said members at an area corresponding to said strip-like area.

2. The method of cold welding two aluminum members comprising cleaning the surfaces of said members by mechanically removing the surface film and exposing a surface of pure metal, placing the cleaned surfaces of said members together at one or more localized zones, applying, while said members are at room temperature and without the use of external heat, to the contacting members along a strip-like area having a width approximately equal to the thickness of said members, a pressure having lines of force substantiall parallel to each other and at right angles to said strip-like area, and controlling said pressure to produce a partial reduction of substantially 70% in thickness of said members over said area. to cause an indentation of said striplike area and to permit the adjoiningmetal of said members to cold flow sufliciently so as to weld said members at an area corresponding to said strip-like area.

3. The method of cold welding two non-ferrous members at room temperature comprising scratch-brushing the surface portions of said members to be welded until metallic surfaces substantially uncontaminated by matter foreign to the metal of said members are obtained, arranging said members with the cleaned surfaces thereof in face-to-face relation, applying to the contacting members along a strip-like area having a width approximately equal to the thickness of said members, a pressure having lines of force substantially parallel to each other and at right angles to said area, and controlling said pressure to produce a partial reduction in thickness of said members over said area of at least 70%. to cause an indentation of said strip-like area and to permit the adjoining metal of said members to cold flow sufllciently so as to weld said members at an area corresponding to said striplike area.

4. The method of cold welding two aluminum members comprising cleaning the surfaces of said members by mechanically removing the surface film and exposing a surface of pure metal, placing the cleaned surfaces of said members together at one or more localized zones, applying, while said members are at room temperature and without the use of external heat, to a rectangular area of the contacting members having a length to width ratio of approximately five to one, a pressure having lines of force substantially parallel to each other and at right angles to said area, and controlling said pressure to produce a partial reduction of substantially 70% in thickness of said members over said area, to cause an indentation of said area and to permit the adjoining metal of said members to cold flow sufficiently so as to weld said members at an area corresponding to said strip-like area.

5. The method of pressure welding pieces of ductile metal to form a spot lap weld without the use of external heat comprising the steps of cleaning the areas of contact to be joined to the extent that no foreign substance remains on the contacting metal surfaces, placing the cleaned surfaces in contact with each other in a manner of a, lap weld, applying continuous pressure to an island-like rectangular area surrounded by the metal on each face of the metal pieces, said rectangular areas being exactly opposed to each other, said pressure being of such magnitude as to reduce the thickness at the island spot of each piece of material at least 70%, said rectangular area having a length to width ratio of at least five to one, to cause the metal to cold flow into intimate contact and to permit intermolecular transfer and crystal re-arrangement across the interface at said area, to thereby form a solid phase cold weld bond at said area.

ANTHONY BAGNOL'D SOWTER.

(References on following P88 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PA'TENTS Number Name Date 918,745 GOldSchmldt Apr. 20, 1909 1,503,539 Latham Aug. 5, 1924 1,618,764 Lunn Feb. 22, 1927 1,657,208 Greaves Jan. 24, 1928 2,427,597 Garner Sept. 16, 1947 16 OTHER REFERENCES Sheet Metal Industries, March 1948, pages 5'14- 5'78.

Iron Age 158, Aug. 8, 1946, pages 56-60-Linsley, "Pressure Welding Thin Aluminum Parts."

Trans. Institute of Welding (London) 8 (1945), pages 163-178, Tylecote, R. F., Pressure Welding of Light Alloys Without Fusion."

Welding Journal 23 (Dec. 1944), pages 1124 1143Kinzel, A. D., "Adams Lecture-Solid Phase Welding."

The Electrochemical Society Reprint (April 1940), pages 77-6 Van Duzee, G. R. and Thomas, J. M., Cold Welding of Silver, II." 

